Drill and seeder.



Patented Sept. 1.5, 1908.

S. E. DAVIS. DRILL .AND SEEDEB.. APPLICATION FILED Nov. 2, 1905. IRENEWBD Nov. 19, 190s. 898,562.

SPENCER E. DAVIS, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

DRILL AND SEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. 15, 190s.

Application led November 2, 1905, Serial No. 285,643. Renewed'November19, 1906. Serial No. 344,153.

To all whom 'tt may concern:

Be it known that I, SPENCER E. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drillsand Seeders; and I do hereby declare the follow ing to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to drills and other seeding machines andhas for its object to improve the same in the several particularshereinafter noted.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combination of deviceshereinafter'described and dened in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a plan view with some partsbroken away, showing the hopper and wheels of a drill and illustratingthe manner in which the several features of my invention are appliedthereto. Fig. 2 is atransverse section on the line 01:2 m2 of Fig. l andFig. 3 is a rear elevation of the parts shown in Fig. l, some partsbeing broken away.

The numeral 1 indicates the wheels and the numeral 2 the hopper of thedrill. The wheels l are loosely mounted on an axle 3 and the hopper 2 isprovided with end brackets or plates 4 that are rigidly secured to theaxle 3 and to the machine frame 5, portions only of which latter areshown. In its bottom, the hopper 2 opens into a plurality of feed cups 6that are united by bridge portions 7. Feed cylinders and gates 8 aremounted in the feed cups 6 in the usual way, and a squared or angulardriving shaft 9 is passed through all of the said feed cups, cylindersand gates.

Mounted in suitable bearings in the end plates or brackets 4 of thehopper 2 and extending longitudinally through said hopper in a verticalline with and just above the feed cups 6, is an agitator shaft 10,which, at one end, is provided With a sprocket l1. This shaft 10receives rotary movement under the advance movements of the machinethrough a sprocket chain l2 that runs over the sprocket 1l and over asprocket 13 that is carried by the hub of one of the wheels 1.

In vertical line with each cup 6, the shaft l() is provided with aU-shaped or approximately U-shaped agitator 14, the legs or prongs ofwhich, at their ends, are rigidly secured to said shaft 10. The bows oroutermost portions of these agitating members 14, under the rotarymovement of the shaft 10, are arranged to pass slightly into the openupper portions or mouths of the feed cups 6 and to keep the seed stirredup or agitated at such points and Ithereby insure the complete fillingof the said cups with seed at all times. The agitating members 14 arepreferably made of stiff wire which is of no greater diameter thanactually required for strength. Furthermore, as the agitators 14 aresecured at boh ends, each may be of much smaller wire than if securedonly at one end. A small wire, it has been found, will do much betterwork than a large wire, because in passing through the grain, it willnot act as a paddle to force the seeds out of the feed cups, but willpass freely through the seed, while at the saine time serving to keepthe seed agitated and insure the free flow thereof into the feed cups.

The above described arrangement whereby the approximately U-shapedagitators are caused to work above, but to work slightly into the upperopen portions of the feed cups is especially important in the sowing ofwhat is known as HTexasH oats, or other oats which have a long beardthat prevents them from being readily packed together. The improvedagitator, it has been found in practice, will press these bearded oatsdown- Ward into the feed cups and cause the latter to be completelyfilled.

In the present machines, very long hoppers are employed, and thesehoppers have a tendency to warp or bulge laterally, and furthermore,they require to be trussed or strengthened so that they will not sagdown at their central portions. For meeting these conditions, I providethe improved device which is constructed as follows: To the intermediateportions of the sides of the hopper 2, is rigidly secured a spacingbracket l5 which keeps the sides of the hopper properly spaced, andwhich, as shown, is also provided with a bearing hub 16 that supportsthe central portion of the agitatorshaft 10. Also, as shown, a bushing17 is mounted on the central ortion of the shaft 10 and works rotativeyin the said hub 16. Above the bearing 16, the bracket 15 is providedwith a bridge bar 18 that is notched on its under edge for an importantpurpose which will presently appear.

The numeral 19 indicates a truss rod that bears against the bridge bar18 and engages with one or the other of the notches. At its ends, thetruss rod 19 is attached to yokes or anchoring prongs 20, the ends ofwhich are passed through the end plates 4 of the hopper and are providedwith nuts 21, by means of which the truss made up of the rod 19 andyokes 20 may be tightened. The prongs of the particular' yoke 20, itwill be seen by reference to Fig. 1, have their base of reaction againstthe adjacent head 4 on the opposite sides of the line of strain of thetruss, to-wit, on the opposite sides of the said rod 19. It will also benoted that the bridge bar 18 is located below the points where theprongs of the yokes 20 pass through the heads 4. Hence, it is evidentthat when the truss is tightened, the central portion of the hopper willbe Very rigidly supported against sagging or downward movement. trussrod 19 is engaged with the central notch of the bridge bar 18, thetension of the truss will be thrown vertically upward, but not to oneside more than the other. This is the proper position ofthe truss rod aslong as the hopper remains straight. If the hopper should warp or tendto bulge toward one side, it may be drawn back into position and thereheld by engaging the truss rod 19 with a notch of the bridge bar 18which is on the opposite side of the center of the hopper from thedirection in which the hopper tends to bulge. Of course, the greater thetendency of the hopper to bulge, the greater distance the It is alsoevident when the truss 19 should be oiiset from the center of the bridgebar 18.

In practice, the novel devices above described have been found extremelyefficient for the pur oses had in view.

What l c aim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

1. In a drill or seeding machine, the combination with a hopper havingits sides rigidly connected by a notched bridge bar, of a truss rodattached at its ends to yokes, the prongs of which are passed throughthe heads of said hopper, the intermediate portion of said truss rodbeing engageable with any of the several notches of said bridge bar,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a drill or seeding machine, the combination with a hopper havingits sides rigidly connected by a bridge bar, of a truss rod attached atits ends to the heads of said hopper, the intermediate portion of saidtruss rod being engageable with said bridge bar at any one of severalpoints, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a hopperhaving its sides rigidly connected by a bridge bar, of a truss rodattached at its ends to the ends of said hopper, the intermediateportion of said truss rod eing engaged with the intermediate portion ofsaid bridge bar, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SPENCER E. DAVIS.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR W. SELoNER, TT D. KILGORE.

